Fabric and method of making the same



Dec. 22, 1925- 1,566,727

F. L. BRIGHAM FABRIC AND METHOD'QF MAKING THE SAME Filed Nov. 18. 1924INVENTOR Maw- " ric is desired, the

Patented Dec. 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK L. BRIGHAM. OF UPPER MONTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY. 1

FABRIC AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME.

Application filed November 18, 1924. Serial No. 750,528.

v To all whdm it may camera:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK L. Bino- HAM, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Upper Montclair, in the county of Essex andState of New Jersey, have mvented certain new and useful Improvements inFabrics and Methods of Making the Same, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention, which relates broad] to fabrics, is directed to improvingthe met ods now employed in the manufacture of fabrics employing coveredrubber warp threads.

In the manufacture of fabrics employing covered rubber warp threadsunder present methods, the elastic core of the warp threads is enclosedin one or more fibrous coverings, such as cotton or silk, for example,wound in opposite directions around the elastic core thread while thecore thread is stretched to its approximate limit. In the weaving offabrics from. such warp threads, the warp threads are extended to theapproximate limit of the elastic of the core thread, giving a longstretch fabric. If a short stretch fabfabric is woven with the elasticcore threads stretched to their approximate limit, but in this case thefiller threads are beaten up to an abnormal extent. In the finishingprocess, it is customary to use starch in order to ive body andsmoothness to the finished fa ric.

When making up such a fabric mto garments, however, care must be takennot to cut the fabric along the selvage, inasmuch as this releases therubber cores of the warp threads, allowing the same to pull bac throughthe fabric to cause runs therein.

Again, as above mentioned, starch is curplo ed in the manufacture ofsuch fabrics and consequently any benefit derived from the presence ofthe starch is lost when the starch becomes softened from moisture or assoon as the starch is dissolved by washing the fabric.

Furthermore, in making such fabrics into garments such as corsets,girdles, eta, 1t is almost impossible, during the stitching of thestays, etc. in place, to avoid cutting some of the elastic core threads,with the result that these threads will draw or work back through theirfibrous covering, producing runs in the garment.

My invention provides an improved fabric wherein should any of theelastic warp core threads be cut when making the same 1nto garments, orshould it be desirable or necessary to cut the. fabric alon the selvageedge or edges, the severed elastics or rubbers will nevertheless be heldagainst pulling back through their fibrous-"coverings or through thefabric. I a

My invention [provides also a method whereby the results desired may beproduced without employing starch and without any abnormal beating u ofthe filler threads and without stretching the elastic cores of the warpthreads to their approximate limit while weaving, thereby prolonging thelife of the warp threads.

Briefly, my invention consist in providing an improved thread andincorporating this thread into a warp of the fabric, to thereby providea fabric in which the elastic of the warp threads will remain in placeshould it be necessary or desirable to cut the fabric along the selvageedge or edges. Further, my invention also consists in providing a warpthread having a core composed of one or more elastic threads and one ormore non-extensible stay threads, such as fibrous stay threads,extending lengthwise of the warp thread, this core being covered with afibrous non-interlaced covering, such as silk or cotton, which is woundor wra ped spirally about the elastic core thread or threads and thefibrous stay thread or threads to cause the stay and core threads tobecome intertwined and bound together. The non-extensible or inelasticstay thread of the core is of such a length from one point of view ofthe invention that the elastic core thread may not be stretched beyondits elastic limit, thereby limiting the stretch of a fabric madetherefroma desirable .:haracteristicand in the weaving or knitting offabric employing my improved warp threads, at which time the elasticcore threads are under tension, these threads can only be stretched tothe limit permitted by the sta threads. I find also that in the finishethread the core and stay threads have changed their relative positionsso as to cross each other or become intertwined, and this, inconjunction with the fibrous covering or coverings of the warp threads,which as above mentioned bind the stay threads to the elastic corethreads, prevents the elastic core threads from ulling back orretracting through their fibrous coverin s. Consequently, when my imroved fa rie is made up into a garment, shou d any ,of the elastic corethreads be out either by reason of cutting of the fabric along theselvage or in stitching stays in place, etc., the cut threads do notpull back but remain in place in their coverings.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein I have illustrated an embodimentof my in vention- Figure- 1 is a plan view of a fabric woven inaccordance with my improved method;- Fig. 2 is a view showing the firststep of the method of making my improved warp thread;

Fig. 3 shows the fibrous covering being applied to the core of thethread;

Fig. 4 shows the completed thread; and

Fig. 5 is a section through the thread of Fig. 4:.

Referring to the drawings in detail, 1 designates a length of extensiblematerial, such as elastic or rubber, constituting a part of the core ofmy improved warp thread- In the manufacture of my improved thread thiselastic core thread 1 is stretched or placed under tension. as indicatedin Fig. 2, where it is shown stretched or tensioned to the pointdesignated 2, which is not beyond its limit of elasticity. With theelastic core thread so stretched, ll place beside it, i. e., feed alongwith it. a substantially non-extensible stay thread 3 of a length equalto the length of the elastic thread in its stretched condition. thisthread 3 being cotton. silk. or any other suitable fibrous nonelasticmaterial. These two threads constitute the core of mv improved warpthread and extend lengthwise thereof. I may here mention. however, thatseveral of these core and stav threads may be employed in a thread ifdesired, one of each having been shown merely for purposes ofillustration. With these two threads under the tension permitted by thestaythread, a covering 4, and if desired a covering 5. are wound orwrapped about the same. these coverings being composed of any suitablefibrous material wound or wrapped spirally about the core, one coveringpreferably being wound or wrapped right-hand while the other is wrappedleft-hand. The application of the covering thread causes the core threadand stav thread to change their positions, so that while these threadsoriginally lie or are fed substantiallv. parallel to each other, uponthe application of the covering thread they cross each other and becomeintertwined as indicated in Fig. 4.

l find after many tests that my improved -method provides a thread inwhich the elastic or rubber core thread 1 will be held in properposition, i. e., will not retract to a detrimental degree relatively tothe fibrous coverings 4 and 5.

In the manufacture of my-improved fabric I employ for the warp theimproved thread above described, and which'I will designate 6 in Fig. 1,preferably/in conjunction with fibrous binder threads 7 and gut threads8, which may be cotton, silk, or other suitable material. The gut threadI prefer is composed of four threads as indicated.

In weaving this fabric the extensible warp threads 6 are placed underthe tension permitted by the stay threads 3. In other words, the elasticcore threads ,arestretched as far as the stay threads 3 will permit, itbeing understood, of course, that the fibrous binder and gut threadsabove referred to are also under some tension. With the warp threadsunder tension as just pointed out, the fabric may be woven in the usualWay. This method will provide a short stretch fabric, the stretch beinglimited by the stay threads,

as will be obvious, and no starching or ab-' normal beating up of thefiller threads 9 is necessary.

ll find that the employment of threads such as above described in afabric permits of the elastic or rubber core thread or threads being cutduring the process of manufacturing the fabric into a garment, withoutpulling back through the-fibrous coverings 4 and 5. p

Apparently, this is due to the pressing of the fibrous stay thread intothe elastic core thread wherever the stay thread is crossed by thefibrous coverings 4 and 5. In other words. the stay thread and theelastic core thread are bound to each other by the covering threads, theelastic core thread, the stay thread and the cover threads all beingbound to each other so as to prevent slipping of the elastic core threadrelatively to the other threads. No doubt, also, the stay thread ispressed into the elastic core thread by the filler threads to furtheraid in holding the elastic and the warp threads in placer It is threadsis the prime reason that the elastic core threads remain in place.

-A fabrlc in which the selvage'. may be cut, as indlcated by dotted linein Fig. 1,

without the elastic or rubber warp thread cores pulling through, may beproduced by the method above described, and as an illustration I havefound such a fabric is produced by employing eighteen or nineteencoyered elastic warp threads to'the inch, and thirty-two ply yarn forthe gut thread and forty-two ply yarn for the binder threads.

llt will be seen that/l have produced a fabrlc employing covered elasticwarp threads wh1ch may be out along the selvage without, however,releasing these threads so as to permit them to pull back through thefabric when the fabric is placed under elastic or rubber core threadswill remain in place in their fibrous coverings even though thesethreads may be cut, as, for example, in the process of manufacturing thefabric employing such threads in the warp into garments.

It is to be understood that while I have described my invention indetail, changes may be made therein Within the purview of invention. Itis to be further understood also that while my improved thread has beenreferred to as a warp thread in the art of Weaving, yet the same may beused. if desired, in the art of knitting.

What I claim is:

1. As an article of manufacture, an extensible fabric employing warpthreads consistin of a core composedof an extensible thread and anon-extensible thread, both extending lengthwise of the warp thread, anda covering for said core, said warp threads being so constructed thatthe core threads will remain in position when the selvage of the fabricis cut.

2. As'an article of manufacture, an extensible fabric employing threadsconsisting of a core and a covering for the core, the core com rising atleast one extensible thread an one inextensible thread, the inextensible thread lying about the extensible thread in a long pitchedspiral, both threads of the core extending lengthwise of the thread,said covering for the core comprising one or more threads ofinextensible material wrapped spirally about the same to bind theextensible thread and the inextensible thread of the eore to each other,whereby the selvage of the fabric may be cut I Without releasing theextensible core threads.

3. An article of manufacture comprising a non-extensible thread and anelastic thread 'intertwined, and a non-extensible thread wraplged aboutthe two first-mentioned thre s.

anon-extensible thread and an elastic three crossing each other and anon-extensible thread wound spirally about the two first, mentlonedthreads. I

5. An article of manufacture comprising 1 a non-extensible stay threadand an elastic m core thread intertwined, and a non-extensible threadwound svirally about the two first-mentioned thrca s, the non-extensiblestay thread being of a length to limit the stretch or extens on of thesaid cleastic core thread.

6. A fabric comprising a plurality of interlaced threads, certain ofsaid threads comprising an elastic core thread and a nonelastic staythread intertwined, and a nonelastic thread wrapped spirally about saidcore and stay threads.

7. A fabric comprising a plurality of warp threadssome of which warpthreads comprise an elastic core thread and'a nonelastic stay threadintertwined, and a thread wrapped about the said core and stay threadsto bind'the two together, the said stay thread being of a length tolimit. the stretch of the elastic core thread.

8. The method which consists in wrapping a non-extensible thread about.an elastic thread and a non-extensible thread to cause the twolast-mentioned threads to become intertwined.

9. The method which consists in winding a thread spirally about anon-extensible thread and an elastic thread to cause the two lastmentioned threads to change their positions so as to cross each other.

10. The method which consists in winding a thread spirally about anon-extensible thread and an elastic thread with the alas I under thetension permitted by the nonelastic stay thread. 7 I

This specification signed this 17 day of November, 1924.

FREDERICK L. BRIGHAM.

